Long, Charles H. (b. 1926)

Through more than 40 years of teaching, lectures, and writings, Charles H. Long has influenced hundreds if not thousands of scholars in religious studies, African American studies, sociology, and related disciplines. In the field of history of religions, he is arguably the preeminent African American scholar. His career began at the University of Chicago as a professor of history of religions, where he served as chair of the field as well as chair of the Committee on African Studies. His seminal volume, Significations: Signs, Symbols, and Images in the Interpretation of Religion, is widely recognized as an insightful articulation of how religion and the field of religious [Page 716]studies are to be understood within the hegemonic structures of western European culture, particularly in the Americas.

Charles H. Long's studies of religion interrogate a wide range of human activities—cultural, political, and global developments—as well as activities formally designated as religious. Religion, he contends, is the fundamental work of human beings; it constitutes sets of values that have evolved from human interactions and exchanges. From such a perspective, Long has described and illuminated religious activities and expression in economic domains such as the U.S. stock market. This exemplifies how religious studies can contribute to general discussions of human life.

For Long, religion is far from notions about the superiority of one group over another, as such superiority is not inherent to religion but a product of the values that evolve from human interaction. Superiority of ideas, processes, and proposed solutions is something that diverse groups achieve when engaged in significant exchanges. It is only through the critique embedded in interactional exchange that the truth of a person or group is recognized and valued. Truth is not inherent or self-evident.

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Long attended that city's public school system through Dunbar Junior College; during World War II, he volunteered for the U.S. Air Force. His first interest was mathematics, and he considered the profession of engineering but began to understand and acknowledge the integrity, validity, and truth of his experiences as an African American in a White racist and segregated society. This knowledge undergirded his experiences at Moody Bible College and as he progressed in the field of religious studies. He matriculated at the University of Chicago in 1949, where he received the bachelor of divinity degree and later the PhD. His established sense of self and self-worth refused to succumb to racism or racial segregation as he pursued his education. At the University of Chicago, Long studied with Professor Joachim Wach, a pioneer in the history of religions as an academic discipline in the United States. With other colleagues, he inaugurated the first curriculum for the study of religion at the University of Chicago undergraduate college and, together with Professors Mircea Eliade and Joseph Kitagawa, two other trailblazers in religious studies, Long established the international journal History of Religions.

His first book was Alpha: The Myths of Creation, published in 1963, and with his colleague Joseph Kitagawa, he edited The History of Religions: Essays on the Problem of Understanding in 1967. He was a founding member of the American Society for the Study of Religion and the Society of Black Religious Studies. He served as president of the American Academy of Religion. He is a member of the International Association of Historians of Religion, the National Humanities Faculty, and the American Society for the Study of Religion. He was chosen as the University of Chicago's Divinity School's Distinguished Alumnus of the Year in 1984 and received the Professional Achievement Citation of the University of Chicago Alumni Association in 1991. He was a senior editor of the second edition of The Encyclopedia of Religion.

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